Welsh Government under Pressure to Stop Forcing Churches to Register

According to ChristianToday.com, a coalition of evangelical charities released a joint statement Monday that said the proposal from the Welsh government was an “unjustified restriction on religious liberty.”

Under the proposal, the plan would require any education out of school to register with the government, including church youth groups. Those youth groups would then face inspections by government officials if there were any complaints.

However, the charities said “"scope for for [sic] vexatious complaints is considerable, especially in the current climate of aggressive secularism and religious illiteracy.”

“For an inspector to scrutinize a Sunday School class, Bible study, youth meeting or church weekend away would be highly intrusive,” CARE, Christian Concern, the Evangelical Alliance, the Evangelical Movement of Wales, the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship and The Christian Institute said in the statement. “The prospect of inspectors questioning volunteer leaders and children (without their parents) is an unwarranted incursion into private religion and family life."

"Christians are peace-loving, law-abiding citizens who respect authority and love their neighbors. They are a major source of volunteering. To require such people to submit to registration and inspection to ensure they are not engaged in "undesirable teaching" is profoundly misconceived," the statement continued.